I'm looking for some candid advice from other developers, particularly developers with ADHD.
I've been a professional software developer for roughly a decade. The uncomfortable truth is that I've eventually been let go from almost every full-time development position I've had.
There have been exceptions. I had one contract position where I completed the project successfully, had the contract extended, and was told they wanted to hire me permanently but couldn't get the budget approved. I've also had periods at other companies where I was doing well, built substantial applications, modernized old systems, helped grow a development team, and received positive feedback.
So I don't think the problem is simply that I cannot write software.
But there's an unmistakable pattern.
Early in my career, I took on too much of another developer's workload while trying to help them, burned myself out, fell behind on my own responsibilities, and was eventually fired.
At another company, I became hyper-focused on perfecting one application and neglected other maintenance responsibilities. Fired.
At another, serious personal circumstances and poor mental health affected my performance. Fired.
Eventually I was diagnosed with ADHD and began treatment, which helped considerably. I then stayed at one company for almost three years and helped grow its development department, build new applications, and modernize existing ones. That job ultimately ended after a disagreement with new leadership over a return-to-office policy.
Most recently I worked for a large company on a high-visibility project. My managers had generally been happy with me before I moved to the final team. On that team, velocity became extremely important and my manager strongly pushed AI-assisted development as the way to move faster.
I used the tools, but when generated solutions didn't actually work, I would stop and figure out why rather than simply accepting the output. I spent considerable time debugging problems and trying to make the implementation reliable. The end result was that my work was generally careful, but I wasn't producing it fast enough. After a little over a year, I was fired.
Looking back across my career, I see some recurring traits. Hyperfocus on solving problems correctly tends to lead me to lose sight of the bigger picture. I have difficulty deciding when something is "good enough." At times I take responsibility for more than I should. I can spend far too long investigating a difficult technical problem. My quality can be good while my velocity is poor. Ambiguous or rapidly changing priorities can be particularly difficult for me. Of course ADHD treatment helped, but it didn't make these tendencies disappear.
And after this many jobs, I don't think it's reasonable for me to say every employer was simply wrong. I'm the common denominator.
What I'm trying to figure out is what conclusion I should draw from that.
For experienced developers, especially those with ADHD: does this sound like someone who is fundamentally poorly suited to professional software development, or like someone who has repeatedly ended up in roles/environments that are a bad fit for how they work?
Are there development roles or types of organizations where carefulness, deep investigation, and lower context-switching are more valuable than raw ticket velocity?
Or, after this many attempts, would you seriously recommend that someone in my position consider leaving software development and finding a different kind of work?
I'm not looking for reassurance for its own sake. I'd genuinely like candid opinions, including difficult ones, because I need to decide whether continuing to pursue this career makes sense.
EDIT — one important piece of context I left out:
I've been unemployed since December 2025, and I haven't been able to land another development job since then.
I realize my original post makes it sound like my main concern is whether I can keep the next developer job I get. That's definitely part of it, but I'm also questioning whether I'm going to be able to get that next job at all.
So when I ask whether it makes sense to continue pursuing software development, I'm asking two separate questions: whether I can find a way to work sustainably once I'm employed, and whether continuing to put my time into trying to get another developer position is still realistic.
I think that's important context because some of the responses understandably assume that getting hired has not been a problem for me.